Ep 17: What I’d Do If I Had To Start My Weight Loss Journey Over Again

Today's episode is a lengthy but GOLD filled episode! This was originally going to be a 2-parter, but was condensed down to 1 episode after dealing with a major health issue which I explain in the first 16 minutes. If you want to know why I went a little MIA & also why it is SO important to listen to your body, I cover it all!


If you want to skip all of that, at 16 minutes, we jump into the 10 things I would do again if I had to start my weight loss journey over. Fun fact: #9 is the one I recommend ABOVE ALL! However, each is important and I want you to take action on these!


At 1:08:00, I share the details of our all new BBH app - an elevated experience where joining us unlocks access to our signature program - The 28-Day Macro Challenge - that you can run on YOUR time and walks you step-by-step through our proven framework for learning how to lose weight eating the food you love! You'll also get Community, accountability and progress tools, recipes, & so much more as a member! 



Ready to do this? Download the app using the link below and join us!

www.balancebyhilary.com

Transcript

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Well, hello, you guys. Welcome back to the show and if you're new here. Welcome, welcome. I am so happy to be recording this podcast today at like, Or we're going to get into it really quick before we jump into the actual episode itself. But I just, I have to express some gratitude right now because I've been through a lot. We have had a little. Sort of accidental sort of on purpose, which I'll explain hiatus on the podcast these last two weeks. And I'm just so happy to be like recording a podcast and doing some normal stuff. Disclaimer, if. It sounds weird if this episode sounds a little echoey, that is because I am recording it from my bed. I am not in my BBH office or I normally record, which has like really great. Sound like it doesn't bounce around too much. But it was so important for me to get this episode recorded. I get back to normal. So apologies in advance. If this one sounds a little funny, hopefully it's not too bad. Yeah, let's just like get right into it. So we had planned to take a one week break from the podcast because we had planned for last week's episode to be a two-part episode where we released part one on Thursday, our normal podcasting day. And then we were going to release part two on that Friday, like last Friday and. That did not happen. At all. And, it was supposed to be in celebration of launching our new app, which is officially out. I'm gonna talk about. Yeah, that didn't happen. So I'm going to give a quick synopsis just to kind of explain. What happened, where I've been. And most importantly, I want to share it because there's a really important. PSA life or death. I don't want to be like overly dramatic, but truly, Just something I feel very led to share. And if you follow me on social, then you know, it's been going on, but maybe you missed it. And I did create like a highlight on my Instagram page actually. If you really want, like the full details, I kind of have documented this whole thing. But basically, the last three weeks I have been dealing with health issues and I'm somebody who truly, I can count on my hand. Like how many times I've been to the doctor in the last, like 10 to 12 years. It's not very much. I just am one of those people who. Kinda doesn't get super sick very often. Hasn't had any major health problems. If I have been sick, I've. Been able to kind of just ride it out. And that's always been my philosophy. Like if I can just let my body, you know, fight this off, do its thing, then that's what I'm going to do. Yeah, I have a whole new outlook on that after this so basically you guys, it's a little bit of a mystery, but I was on our spring break trip. We took the boys to. The lake and the last night that we were there, I woke up in the middle of the night. With unbearable pain in my abdomen, pelvic area. And it's one of those things that. I knew something was wrong immediately. I've had kidney stones before. I know what labor feels like. I had no idea what was wrong. This was more excruciating than both of those things. And if you've gone through either of those, you know, how terrible those are. I've also, I had my appendix out in high school. It was worse than that. And I couldn't explain it. I couldn't even breathe or talk. I mean, it was just the worst pain of my life. And. I'm going to sum it up as quickly as I can, but basically, went to the ER, was told that I had a cyst on my ovaries and that it had ruptured and, you know, to follow up with my doctor when I got home, but I was still really, really sick. Like to the point I couldn't even get home. I was two and a half hours away. I could not even make the trip back home and try to kind of heal for a couple days. But I came back and had an appointment with my doctor and I just, it was this decline where the ER doctor told me you should start getting better. Total decline. Um, and it basically turns out. There's so much to do those. I mean, two emergency room trips. To hospital stays with hardcore IV antibiotics, two emergency surgeries in one week. Um, basically. Went to my doctor. When I got home, he took one look at me and was like, something's wrong. And we went into emergency surgery to have an infection. That was. Basically attacking my ovaries removed. Um, And full disclosure. I had an IUD placed, at the end of January. And so he left the IUD, you know, got rid of the, you know, took out like the infection. We were really, it's a mystery. Like I never had any fever. We aren't sure like where it came from. It's kind of bizarre. And basically, um, thought that, you know, I should start getting better from there was on, was in the hospital for a few days on hardcore IB antibiotics, you know? Went home thought things should start looking up. It was kind of traumatic and ended up back in the ER, because I spiked a fever. And basically. And second emergency surgery to first, I had my IUD removed. It was completely infected and then had my right ovary removed. It was extremely sick. Maybe from the infection, we still don't really know, but the infection was pretty well gone, but the ovary was just blocked. So I had that removed. I ended up having my fallopian tubes removed, which I already knew I wasn't going to have any more children after Ben. Like I made that decision the day he was born. So that wasn't really a big deal at all. But a second surgery, very intense, more IV antibiotics hospital. Stay. All the things, um, very scary. Not going to lie kind of traumatic. Uh, because this is just kind of a mystery. We don't exactly know what happened. There are some theories. But what was scary about it is that my body did not show the typical signs of infection. Right. I should have had a really high fever and my white blood cell count should have been pretty high. And none of that happened. And the reason that I want to kind of share this, honestly, on this episode is if one person hears this and is like, oh my gosh, and remembers this story, then I feel like I can help somebody. I'm somebody who, like I said, tends to just ride things out. And there was a part of me that was like, maybe this is normal, you know, after assist. And maybe I'm just healing. But I deep down, I knew something was wrong. I was listening to my body and I'm pretty in tune with my body. I knew something was wrong. And I went to the doctor and then I went back to the ER to things that I would normally just try and kind of be like, I'm tough. I got this, I'll fight it off. That were lifesaving for me. And that's where I don't really mean to be dramatic. But. Infections are no joke. And like my doctor explained to me. He's so grateful. I'm so grateful that I listened to my body because I was infected with strep. My IUD was infected with strep and it attacked my ovaries. And. We won't ever really know, but we're thinking that I had strep. Like, I kind of had some illness right before this. That was kind of weird and not super typical, never had a sore throat or anything, but you don't have to as strip. Which I've learned, and that it can move in your body. And in fact, other parts of your body, and that we think that that's just what happened and it's one of those things. I just I'm so thankful I listen to my body because I didn't have a fever. I didn't have the typical signs. Uh, of what you should be showing when you are heavily infected, which I was, and I was days away from what's called toxic shock. Shock syndrome that can come from strep. At which can lead to sepsis, which can lead to death. And again, I'm not, I'm really not drawn to start this podcast off on a, on a bad note. In fact, it's a positive. Because I listened to my body because I got into the doctor. I'm okay. And I will be okay. And I just want to put this out there for anybody who might be like me, who just tends to kind of want to be tough. I think especially like moms sometimes where like, So quick to want to get our kids help, but we're like, oh, I'm fine. I'll be fine. Don't do that. Please listen to your body. It's worth it to get checked out. That's kind of my new thought process. Like even if it is nothing. Even if you know, your doctor says, Hey, you're okay. It's better to know. Um, it's better to catch something. That can be, um, you know, life or death. So yeah, you guys, wow. I am just, I'm still kind of in shock from it all. It happened at such a crazy time because we were literally two weeks out from launching the new app. We've had to pause things and move things around, and it's just been a whirlwind, especially going back into the hospital a second time, having the surgery of removing things. Um, but I can say. Um, on the mend, I am feeling so much better and I'm glad to be home now, still rockin antibiotics. And now I have to take them orally. I don't have the Ivy and, oh my gosh, you guys. I'm not trying to complain. I'm thankful to just be home and here and healing, but. Man, those things, rock your gut. I really haven't done antibiotics in a long, long time. Not my adult life. I don't think so. Like wholly count and be dealing with that for a minute. And also just soreness two abdominal surgeries in one week as a lot. And so my hottest fittest bod goals for 2023, they're on pause, but I do go back to the doctor in two weeks and I can do some light walking, but hopefully I'll be cleared when I go back to get back to it slowly. Um, just really focused right now on healing and, uh, resting my gut. Um, letting it kind of heal as much as I can with these antibiotics and, uh, yeah. Mentally healing, because I'll tell you it, this has been. Mentally harder than probably anything I've dealt with in a very, very long time, just because it was so shocking. There was so many scary elements, but. Most importantly, uh, to, into this on a positive note, I have so much gratitude for modern medicine. I have so much gratitude that I am healthy because something like this can really hurt and affect somebody a lot more. If you're in an unhealthy body. Uh, even my doctors and nurses, as much as all of this is kind of a mystery. One thing they just kept saying is, you know, you've been able to handle this and with stand this. Uh, because you're so healthy, so, so much appreciation for my healthy body, um, and just life in general that I have this life and it makes me. Realize more than ever, that you really do just get one. And, you know, I want to spend my days being positive and having gratitude and appreciation for it for my body, for my family, for this job. And I'm so excited. That's why I'm so excited to record this podcast today because I'm full of gratitude. So wanted to share that, just get it out of the way. That's where I have been. And also just to make that note that please, please, please, please. If you feel like something's wrong, it's always worth it to, to get checked out. All right now. Shifting gears a little bit. You guys. Like I said the original intent for this episode. Who was to be a two-parter I've now condensed it down to a one. But it was really meant to be a celebration. We had it timed to where it, the part two would launch with the opening, the doors of our brand new balanced by Hillary app. And you guys it's here. Like it's open, like right now, I did not plan on having that be what this episode is about, but it is an. I'm so excited. We have moved all of our current monthly members over as well as we've added lots of new ladies just in the last few days. And I just could not be more excited. I'm actually going to save the details of that for the end of the episode, because I had such a long intro. Uh, talking about the health stuff that, uh, I don't wanna, I don't wanna spend any more time on anything that you guys might not be interested in at this moment, but if you are, if you are like, Okay. I need to get serious about my goals or I'm ready to learn about macro counting or I'm looking for a community and support and resources stick around. Because at the end of the episode, I'm going to talk to you guys a little bit about the new app and how you can get started counting your macros to day. You can get started. Kick-starting that weight loss journey or go in a little harder on it if maybe you've started it, but you're still kind of spinning your wheels. Maybe you need to restart you. Haven't quite gotten. You know your feet under you. And you're kind of in that, like off on mode. Our app is going to help you so much. I would love you to join us out. We'll talk about that at the end of the episode. All right. In today's episode, I wanted to do something fun and I wanted to talk about. What I would do if I had to start my weight loss journey over again. So these are 10 things that I, I it's like one of those things like. I know what I know now. And if I had known what I know now through all of the experience, right. I'm a decade out now from starting. My weight loss journey, where I lost a hundred pounds. All of the things that I've learned. Um, you know, from myself, Going through it, but also having coached. Thousands of women through their journey. These are 10 things that I would do. Okay. If I had to start over completely. So some of these things I didn't do at first, and now I know better, some of these things are things I did do, and I'm like that made a world of difference. That is huge. And I want to share these things with you guys, because you can apply these things to your journey. These are actionable things that maybe you pick one or two to get you started and come back and revisit this episode and pick another few after you've gotten comfortable and, and you've gotten going. Or maybe you implement a whole chunk of these, maybe all 10, right? Don't overwhelm yourself. But these are 10 things that, again, I've learned throughout my 100 pound weight loss journey, and I would do them again. Or I would do it if I had to start over. These are the things that I have learned. So let's get into it. Alright, number one, the first thing I would do if I had to start this weight loss journey all over again is I would start. With logging my food. And it's funny, this is step one of our proven three-step framework to. Learn how to lose weight, eating food you love in our very first step in our programs. The first thing that we focus on is logging your food. And this is something I did from the beginning of my journey. That made all the difference in the world. It truly did because here here's the thing. If you want to lose weight, lose body fat, get fit. Lean out, tone up all of those things. You have to be paying attention to your nutrition and I hate to break it to you. But sometimes it's not enough just to change, to like eating healthier. Now, some people will see results from, from doing that right. You know, you're making swaps or you're kind of cutting down on portions. And so therefore you're lowering how many calories you're consuming and you'll see weight loss results, right? Because in order to lose weight, you gotta be in a calorie deficit. So some people naturally, when they make changes to quote unquote eating healthier, we'll see weight loss results. But if you're somebody who feels like I've done that, like I have cut my portions down or I have made swaps, like I'm not pulling through fast food, McDonald's breakfast, I'm eating, you know, this good cereal or, you know, You're making changes, but you're not seeing the results that you want. You're eating healthier. But your scale weight is the same. Logging your food. Is it if you're not logging your food, the zit. Again, this is what I started with in my journey. I wanted to know that whatever effort I was giving to my weight loss journey, I had the best chance at seeing success and logging your food for some people that might seem like, oh my gosh, that's, you know, that's a lot of work or that's very meticulous and time-consuming, and yeah, you do have to spend some time logging your food. Although we spend a lot of time scrolling on social media, so it doesn't take quite as much time as you might think to log your food, when you really compare it to all. All the other time we spend on our phone. Right. But. This creates the best awareness, because like I mentioned, Just because you're eating healthier. Doesn't mean that you are eating the right amount of calories. And the only way that you can know how many calories you're truly consuming. Is to be logging your food is to be tracking every bite, that coffee creamer that you're putting in every morning. That has calories, those extra bites that you're taking off of the kid's plate. That has calories. The condiments and things that you're adding, that don't feel like a lot, you know, it's like, well, that's just some dressing or some, you know, nuts and seeds that I added to my salad or my yogurt bowl. Right. It might not feel like a lot. But guess what it counts. It has calories. And sometimes those things are really calorie dense and we just don't realize it. So it can feel like I'm not eating that much. But we don't truly know unless we are logging our food. And I started right out of the gate with that. I didn't even focus on like how many calories I was consuming to start, or my macros or anything like that. I just started with logging my food and creating awareness around how many calories am I consuming or how many calories are in the foods that I eat pretty regularly. This is where I just, if, if there's one thing to start with, it is starting with logging your food. Alright, number two, piggybacks off of this. And this is something that I didn't do in the beginning, but we have actually recently changed our approach at balanced by Hillary and teaching you how to count macros to this. So the second thing that I would do if I had to start all over is I would just focus on calories and protein. So like I just talked about number one, the very first step is you got to start logging your food. You got to create awareness. You've got to get a handle on. On how many calories am I actually consuming? And then we got to kind of move into managing that, right? So this is really step one. And two of our program is now we're going to focus on making sure that we are eating the right amount of calories for us because everybody's is different. And there is a sweet spot that you need to get into in order to start seeing that loss results. And then the second step is also protein. So, if you're not new to macro counting, then you understand that there are three macros, you've got your protein, right. And then you've also got your carbs and your fats. And when I started my macro counting journey. This is again like a decade ago. It feels so long ago now. When I started, I focused on yep. Counting my calories, obviously what you have to do. And then I focused on, you know, those three numbers, hitting a protein target, hitting a carb target, hitting a fat target. Well in the last 10 years, since I've been a coach and gotten my nutrition degree and I've learned more and more following the latest research from the top experts in. Body composition and, and losing body fat and building muscle. There's a pretty general consensus among the experts and in the research that really shows. Carbs and fats, honestly, you don't have to worry about meticulously hitting a number with those. Now there are some caveats I'll talk about here in just a second. But that's really not like the most important piece of the puzzle. The most important piece of the puzzle is that if you want to lose body fat, you've got to be in a calorie deficit. So overall you need to be in your calories, but you also need to be hitting your adequate protein target. That is extremely important for fat loss results. For many reasons, like making sure that you're feeling full and satiated, making sure that you are preserving and building lean muscle mass, right? Those two things are really, really important, the carbs and. And fats can kind of fall wherever. So what I would do if I had to start over again and where we are now shifting to, or. We're not shifting to, we have shifted to. Having our clients focus. Is that right there? You're logging your food. You're making sure that you stay within your calorie goal and you're making sure that you hit your protein target. And basically what that means is that as long as you hit your protein target, And as long as you don't exceed your calorie goal, you can really let your carbs and fats fall wherever. Okay. What this means is you're not playing macro Tetris. I mean, think about it this way. If you've ever tried to count macros before, and I do understand that some people do love having all four numbers to focus on. And if that's you, by all means you can still do that. But you don't have to, you absolutely can just look at it as making sure you're in those calories, making sure you're hitting that protein target. And if you have a day where let's say you just consume more carbs, the food choices that you make. Our more carb heavy and you're a little bit lower in your fats, right? Maybe the next day that's completely reversed. Maybe you eat out. So you just consume a little bit more fat, right? The next day it could. Flip-flop what I'm saying is, is that instead of stressing and playing this like agonizing macro Tetris, where you're trying to hit. All three of your macro targets. Clearly just focus on that protein and staying in those calories and still see the same exact results. Okay. Now I want to touch on the caveats really quick. There is a minimum fat intake that we want to have. And we teach this in our program too, even though we only give a calorie and a protein goal. Now, what we do say is, you know, there is this a minimum fat intake that you just don't want to drop below 0.3 grams per pound of your current body weight. That is for health reasons, hormonal health, especially for women. It is really important not to have too low of, you know, fat intake. So. There is that, but once you know that number and you do that calculation, you can just make sure each day that you're not dropping below that. And then the other thing to think about in terms of your carbs, if you are wanting to like, have a specific carb target, I typically see that that is people who have maybe, um, a endurance, you know, athlete, or you have a really intense, um, activity level, maybe your job carbs or energy, and they give you that fast energy, right? So if your cards are too low and maybe your fats are higher. If you're not having enough energy throughout your day, then that's another reason to maybe look at having a minimum carb target. If you, again, if you're somebody with that higher activity level, Maybe you're training for a half marathon, you know, you might need more carbs in your day, but if we're talking specifically about body composition, fat loss results, It really doesn't matter. There is no magic carb and magic fat number. Okay. And even with protein, this is really just sort of a range and optimal range to fall in an adequate sort of protein intake. It's not magic. It's not like, oh my gosh, if I go. You know, 10 below this now it's not going to work. So definitely keep that in mind. But if I could go back to the beginning, there were so many times where I felt stressed out that I didn't hit my carbon fat target and oh my gosh. And I had the wrong, I didn't know what I know now I had the wrong mindset in thinking that I had to hit these really specific targets and or it wasn't going to work when, in reality. That's not true at all, as long as you're not exceeding those calories. And as long as you're hitting that protein target, the carbs and fats can really fall wherever you want them to fall, which means you can fill up the rest of your food choices to kind of preference instead of stressing over all four points. You're really just focused on the two. Now I do want to just say before I move on really quickly. Yes, we did change how we do this inside of our 28 day macro challenge and how we teach it in our program. Program. You do just receive a calorie range and a protein range to hit. You're still going to learn about carbs and fats carbs and fats are extremely important. I mean, those macros, aren't just, we're not just going to be like, oh, well, those don't really matter. No, no. We have a whole week dedicated to carbs still and a whole week dedicated to fat. Still. You're going to learn about how to balance those things, how to make choices that fill you up and fuel you and support your goals and create a nutritious well-rounded balanced diet. Okay. It's not just like, well, as long as I hit my protein and I don't go over my calories, I can just eat whatever I want. No, definitely not. You still got to make sure that you create a nutritious diet because that's, what's going to be sustainable for you. Long-term that's, what's going to allow you to feel your best. I mean, who cares if you lose weight, if you don't feel good. Right. So it's still so important to understand that carbs and fats are still important. You're still going to learn about how to balance them, but you're not going to be focused. On hitting a specific number. And if I could just do it all over again, I would start with that. I did learn a few years in that I could kind of do this. I did it kind of naturally on my own, actually. And then I started seeing more and more experts talking about how you know, this is definitely true. You can just focus on those two things. Um, and take into account those caveats and make sure that you are still creating a balanced, nutritious diet and see the results that you want. So I wish I had known that sooner and definitely wanted to share that with you guys. If you're somebody who. It's using a macro approach of counting. Fats and counting cards and feeling very stressed. You can shift a little bit here, especially if you join our programs, you can shift and really just focus on those two things. And that is so simplified. It's so much less overwhelming, so much less stressful in your day. And you can still see the results that you want. The third thing that I would do over again. And this is something that I did from the very beginning and it made such a difference for me. Is, I would take. The progress picture, and I would check it regularly. You guys, I talk about it all the time. The scale. Is not the be all end. All. Okay. If you want to lose body fat and you have specially a significant amount to lose. Yes. You want to see that number come down over time, but getting caught up in the day to day of this scale, or even like the week to week, I mean, I had weeks in my 100 pound weight loss journey where the skilled and not really move much. And sometimes it didn't budge at all. But the progress picture will carry you through. And I know it's not fun. I don't love taking them either. And I especially empathize. And remember, because I've been in your shoes. Taking the first one and being like, Wow. I mean, wow. I just, it wasn't a good feeling. I'm not going to lie. I was. Not feeling my best. I was a new mom. I was at my heaviest body weight of my life, and I felt awful in my body. Not just because of the size of it, but because my energy was low, my joints hurt. I was unhealthy And taking that before picture was a little bit of a. Wake-up call, but here's the thing about it. I am so glad, so, so glad that I did this. It literally changed the game for my journey because in those weeks where the scale was sticky, I wasn't sure if progress was even really happening. I wasn't seeing the data for what it was that yes, it was coming down slowly, but it was coming down or Hey, maybe it's not moving. Cause I'm building some muscle and losing body fat. So that's not going to show on the scale. Right. We understand. Stand that. The progress pictures carried me through. I used the approach and I recommend using the approach of taking a picture every four to six weeks. Now, four weeks you run the risk of not seeing like super big changes. I feel. Like, um, a month is always good and I am a fan. In fact, sometimes we encourage our monthly members like, Hey, take one. At the beginning of the month. And the end of the month, you would be amazed. I mean, we see this in the 28 day macro challenge because it's a four week program. The changes that can happen in your body composition are mindblowing in four weeks, but six weeks definitely gives you just a little more time. Either way. Take the progress picture again, we. We see this with the ladies who go through our 28 day macro challenge. It's 28 days will really, it's like 31, I guess when you add like the beginning days, but you're getting started and you're going through these four weeks and you take that picture in the beginning and you take the picture at the end. I cannot tell you how many times we've had a lady. At submit her progress picture and go. I can't believe this. I literally can't believe this. There was either. No change on the scale or very little change on the scale and look at this side-by-side and we will just be like jaw dropped, looking at these transformations because the inches lost are insane. Guys the scale, it's not everything. And it's not always going to show the changes in your body composition because of muscle because of body fat in the way it all just goes. It's not always going to show it, but progress pictures. Absolutely will. So I did this in my journey. I cannot tell you how many times it pulled me through. When I thought that progress was slow. Or I was feeling a little bit just blah, not really like. Feeling it. And I would take that picture at the end of like a four or six week period and be like, Oh, that is motivation to keep going. Like there are changes happening. And also from the other point of view, if there aren't changes happening, if you really aren't seeing it. It might be time to reevaluate your plan. It might be time to tighten things up. If your consistency isn't as good. Might be time to change those calories, bring them down a little bit and you might need an adjustment. Remember, calories are just a starting point. They might need adjusted. And until you're in your sweet spot, you won't see results. So. They're not this magic number that whatever, you know, comes out of like our BBH calculator. We give the disclaimer, you might still have to change this. It might need to come down more. You might need more food. You never know, but it's just a starting point. So if you're taking those progress pictures, Scale, isn't moving. You're not seeing the changes. Okay. Now I know. Something needs to change whether it's B and my consistency and how, you know, accurate and honest I'm being with my tracking and my. Logging and not taking days or the weekends off. Um, or it's just that my calorie range is still too high and I need to bring it down to get in a calorie deficit progress. Pictures will allow you that accountability factor of, well, I'm not just using the scale to determine if it's happening. I'm also got this second form of measuring progress. So take the progress picture and check it regularly. All right. Number four goes along with that. And it is if I had to start over again, I would look at my weekly average scale weight. And this is something I did from the beginning. Kind of on accident. So what I would do is I would not look at my journey from like a Monday to a Tuesday and a Tuesday. Tuesday to a Wednesday. And gosh, I see so many ladies do this. Well, the scale said this yesterday, and now it says this today. So, so what that literally like tells me absolutely. Nothing you guys. I don't care what the scales did yesterday and what it says today. That that tells me nothing. We're talking. Two days of data. I don't care about that. That gives me nothing. What you have to do when it comes to the scale is understand. Fluctuations are normal. You could literally go to the bathroom right now and lose a pound, like seriously. Okay. You could go eat something and gain two pounds. It does not mean that it's body fat. In fact, it's not body fat. If it's happening that fast. Right. Waterweight volume of food volume of what's in your intestines, like makes a difference on the scale. So looking at it from day to day is. Useless now those data points aren't useless over time, but looking at it from day to day is totally useless. Okay. Looking at your weekly average scale weight is what you've got to do. We've got to change this. I know I talk about this one a lot. If you're new to me or you've heard me say it before, but you haven't quite let it sink in. Let this be the moment that you do look at your weekly average scale weight. And again, this is something I did from the beginning and I swear it helped me. Break up with having an emotional reaction to the skill. And it helped me be accountable to, okay. I either need to tighten things up or change my calories or whatever. What I mean, when I say your weekly average scale weight. It's taking all the data points. So I'm somebody who weighed myself every day. And I'm a big fan of weighing yourself daily. Take those seven data points from all seven days of the week. Add them up. And divide it by seven. And that's the weekly average, like that was my weekly average skill that you guys know you've taken math classes. That's the average for the week. And then the next week, repeat that process and. At the end of the week. What is my weekly average scale weight compared to the week before. And then do that again for week three. Okay. Now what is it compared to week two and week one from week one to week three? Yeah, there should be a difference if your goal is to lose body fat, lose weight. Uh, unless you're building like a lot of muscle, which probably isn't happening in a calorie deficit, unless you're like extremely new to strength training. It's one of those things that, yeah, that skill should probably be coming down. Right. So you can compare from week to week. But that is good, solid data to look at. It gives you enough time to evaluate. It gives you an average instead of taking into account those fluctuations. And looking at it from, well, what happened yesterday and what happened today? Right. So changing your mindset around the day to day skill data, not mattering is definitely something that I recommend and that I'm so glad that I started again. I did this kind of naturally. I just really, in my weight loss journey looked at things from a weekly and a monthly basis. I never really cared about a day today basis. This goes with my calories that goes with just sort of everything. I really looked at it from a week and a month. So. That weekly average scale. Wait, I just kind of naturally did that and I would enter my scale weight each day into an app. Actually would put it in my food logging app, which was lose it. And I would see that it popped up on a scale and it would show that trend down over time in our programs, we actually have an. Uh, progress tracker inside of our new app, which is really awesome. You can set your goal. And you can enter in that skill data every day. And it will show you there's a trend line for your, your progress line that you're wanting for your specific goal. And it will show you kind of where you're falling on that it will show you on the graph, like what's happening with your scale weight, but even taking it a step further, we use a printable in our programs. We call it our balanced babe, four week progress tracker. So one of our most popular resources. So many women have told us, like this changed. My whole mindset around this scale. By using this tool, but what it is is it's just basically a sheet to fill out for four weeks. Those data points like I was talking about, and then calculating that average and comparing, so do this for yourself, whether it be in a, you know, app where you're tracking these things. I know happy scale is a really popular app. A lot of our ladies love to use your food logging app might have one. If you're in the balanced by Hilary app, definitely be using that progress tracker or Or just write these things out yourself, you know, do the math on it, compare it week to week. Super simple. It'll take you literally two minutes to do this at the end of your week, every week. So definitely focusing on that weekly average scale weight, not getting caught up in the day to day fluctuations. All right. The. The fifth thing that I would do is also something I did from the beginning. I would get into strength training. And this is one of those things that this goes for less, the weight loss side of it and more the body composition side of it, because. Here's the thing. You can lose a weight and you can get to a number where you are looking at your body. Definitely speaking from experience. You've hit that goal weight. And you're like, well, I don't love. What I see. And this is where some women end up where they're chasing a number on the scale instead of chasing a feeling in their body. And I love creating awareness around this because so many women just don't know, just don't know. And I'm here to tell you so that you don't make the same mistake that I made in the beginning. And that is that. Strength training. Specifically using progressive overload. Is how you will build muscle is how you will change the shape. Of your body to give you that fit. Toned. Look. And building muscle is really for most women, the only way to get that fit tone look. And so many women just don't know that. They think that it's all about losing body fat, but the fact of the matter is having sort of that you. You know, toned. Look, I know I keep using that word, but that is oftentimes what women are kind of going for looking fit. That is because you've got some muscle mass. And so from the very beginning, strength training was important to me, but I wasn't training in the right ways. And it also, wasn't eating to sort of support my strength training. Uh, for a long time. So just making a strength, training a priority, if having that fit tone look and having the body composition that you desire of, not looking just skinny, fat, right. Making strength, training a priority is absolutely key. And again, I want to note about using progressive overload. That was actually the mistake I was making, um, at first is, you know, really important. And what progressive overload means is just that you are. Constantly challenging yourself. So this is what we teach in our programs. Again, you need to be. Adding something each week or every two weeks, at least to be challenging your muscle because that's how muscle grows. So this can mean that you're increasing your weights. Maybe you're moving from. 10 pound dumbbells to 12 pound dumbbells. It could also be that you are increasing your reps. Maybe last week, you did 12 reps this week. You're going to do 15. Maybe it's how many sets you did. Maybe it was three sets and now you're going to bump it up to four. That's always a good one. When you don't have the option of adding more weight, right. Um, it could be how long you do something. Basically what you're doing is you're increasing the volume, increasing the load to challenge your muscle, which is how you grow your muscle. So shrink training specifically with progressive overload hands down, but had to start over again. And what I would suggest to you, if you are looking for a fit, toned body, Get into strength training, prioritize it and make sure that you are using progressive overload programming. Number six. If I had to start over again. I would be careful who I followed. And who I shared my journey with. Um, this is definitely one of those things that kind of goes both ways for me, um, that I did do well. And although it didn't do well in some respects, um, what I mean by this is a body composition journey, a weight loss journey. It's pretty personal. I say that a lot. You know, my desire to change my body feel better in my body. It's about me, this isn't to please my significant other or this isn't about what. What society says is it looks good. Like this is my journey. This is about me. This is personal. And because it's personal and because it's challenging enough. Keeping some protection around it can be a good thing. And one thing that I encourage ladies to do is be careful who you follow on social media. And I like, I love social media. I think it obviously, like I built a business on it. It's such an awesome way to get information. I mean, we have more information at our fingertips than ever before, and that's really cool. You can learn so much. But it's a double-edged sword because you can also fall into a cycle of. Following people that have created a business around or a narrative around. Or content around things that don't align with your goals. And I've seen this with ladies before that want to change their body. They want to feel better in their body, but they follow accounts that are very anti doing that. And unfortunately, I think that happens because there's some crossover, right? Like, you know, the non diet mentality, it's like, yeah, you don't want to do fad diets and things that are really extreme. Sometimes there's some crossover between taking a non diet approach and being sort of anti body composition goals, right. Anti weight loss and those things. And, and so that crossover can happen where you end up following accounts. That aren't aligned with what you want for yourself. And I always say it, autonomy is hot. And if you want to change your body, if you're making that decision for yourself as an adult, You have every right to want to do that. That's not shameful. That's not bad. That doesn't mean you don't love yourself. And sometimes some of the accounts that. Share this information can make you feel shame over wanting to do that. And this also goes for still following fad diet accounts, right? I'll have a lot of ladies that transition off of like keto and join us or off of weight Watchers and join us. And they're still following some of that. Like, You know, accounts that just share that information and they end up feeling sort of pulled into different directions. And this isn't to say, why quit following everybody else? Just follow me. Right? You don't want to necessarily create a, you know, an echo chamber, anything like that. But if those things that you maybe tried in the past didn't work for you and don't serve you, it's okay to hit unfollow. Even if you feel like their contents cool, or it's valuable. If it's causing you to feel conflicted and therefore you are spinning your wheels because you've got one foot in the door, one foot out the door on, okay. I want to change my body composition, but also I'm hearing that I shouldn't want to change my body composition. Right. That is not going to get you the best results, creating an environment. That sets you up for success that aligns with what you want and what your goals are. He's really important because otherwise, again, you're just going to feel conflicted and following accounts that don't necessarily have evidence-based. Research behind them. You don't. I don't know what the credentials of the person are, is another quick, you know, way to just end up. Consuming information that isn't going to get you the results you want. So again, remember, autonomy's important here. If you want to change your body composition, following accounts that give you, you know, the details about how to do that, it's really important to help you learn how to do it. I know it's hard in this day and age. In fact, I am somebody who actually doesn't scroll social media very much. I'll tell you as much time as I spend on it. It's overwhelming to me. And I. Empathize with you guys because 10 years ago, there was a lot of conflicting information out there. It's way worse. Now with content creators, tic talk like you're so bombarded with so many different opinions. And I see this a lot with like maintenance, right? I get asked all the time. It should I go into maintenance after three months? And it's like, what, why would you do that? Your weight loss has rolling. You feel great. Well, how would you stop now and go into maintenance? Well, I follow an account that said every three months, you should take a break. Oh, Oh, my gosh. I mean, that just drives me nuts because while yes, there are reasons that somebody might need to pause and go into maintenance. That is not for everybody. And so, again, who you're following, who you're taking in information. I know it can be hard. Because people can seemingly have really good intentions or they are speaking to an audience that does need to hear that message. It doesn't mean it's the right message for you. Along with that. I do want to say, you know, sharing your, your journey with somebody who might not quite be supportive of it is also really important. Again, this comes down to protecting yourself with your journey, right? Um, It is important to surround yourself with people who are cheering you on with people who want to see you succeed. And unfortunately like, I always hate saying this because I like to be positive. Not everybody is cheering for your success and it's sad. It's unfortunate. Like, I, I just don't even like saying it cause it just sounds icky, but it is a. A fact in life that. If somebody is insecure about where they're at, or naturally as humans, we actually don't like change. Like we resist it. I'm like the queen of this I'm speaking from experience. Um, we. Change is uncomfortable when somebody else starts changing, it can make us like, like reflect on ourselves and like, if we need to change, you know? And so it can. You know, pull up some icky feelings for some people and therefore they're not going to support you. They might even try and sabotage you. Pay attention to who you're sharing with. And this also goes for weight loss. I think it's really important to make sure that you are sensitive to somebody who might not need to hear about weight loss. Right? So if you have a friend who's really struggled with body image, she's not the person. If you have a friend who is recovering from disordered eating, she's not the person. Person. There's so many people out there who will cheer you on who are in the Headspace to hear about your journey. And so knowing who not to is really important. So that is something from the beginning that. That I just think is so important is be careful who you follow. Don't be afraid to unfollow accounts. Don't be afraid to sort of set your eyes on a goal and find people and find accounts or resources that align with that so that you can move forward without feeling like. You're constantly being jerked in another direction. That is going to make your journey so much smoother and it's going to get you the best results. Number seven, I would follow a structured program. I see this with a lot of ladies and I experienced it in the beginning of trying to piece together. Information. On your own. And I will say I was a stay at home mom. I was very interested in the. Topic of behavior change already because I had my ad almost completed my psychology degree. Um, and I was very interested in nutrition science. So for me, I really had like a lot of time, honestly, to dig in to all of the, you know, Information about macros and I did piece it together myself. I never had a coach. Um, I had some really fabulous resources researchers. Uh, experts that I followed. I did have like a couple of books. I had some really fabulous like Facebook groups. I was a part of, but I basically pieced it all together, myself and a that took me way longer. And B not everybody has that time. And when it comes to a weight loss journey, I'm all about like, get in and get out. Right. Weight loss should be a season, not somewhere that you're, you know, setting up camp and living. Right. So for that reason, Following a structured program that walks you literally through step a step B step C. Right. Like that is going to be the most efficient, especially if you're busy. Especially, if you don't have time. I see so many women they're busy moms or they're busy with their career or their social life or their travel or their hobbies. And they don't want to spend. Hours every day, you know, trying to piece it together or again, going to social media and just following all these accounts and trying to put it all together, using all these. Different macro calculators, feeling overwhelmed by, you know, all the different resources and information and kind of getting stuck in that, like I'm here to learn and I'm. Finally one day, put it all together and actually apply it. But then that day never really comes or you never really commit. Following our program. I can't tell you. We've seen so many women come into our program and say like, I was trying to do this on my own. I was so overwhelmed. WellMed, I wasn't actually doing it. I was spending more time trying to learn how to do it than actually doing it and taking action. They come into our program, they go through the steps. They commit to. You know, the lessons and learning and the 28 days. And by the end of they're like, oh my gosh, thank goodness I did those because I would still be spinning my wheels right now. And 28 days at the grand scheme of things goes. Is by really fast, like holy cow, I can't believe it's already April. So follow a structured program, don't spend your time spinning your wheels, trying to figure it out on your own. And this really applies for if you're still doing this, right. Like if you've already figured it out. Awesome. Like let's go. Now we got to, you know, commit and show up and all that. But like, if you're still trying to figure it all out, you don't really know what you should be doing. You don't know if you're doing the right things, find a program that fits with you that aligns with your goals. That's going to walk you through it and it's going to allow you to most efficiently. Get to where you want to be. Number eight. If I had to start over again is I would use timelines with. With caution. I'm a huge fan of setting a date, because I think that that can be really helpful in that it creates some urgency. I've seen this in my coaching a lot, and I've talked about it with our clients and our monthly members a lot. That a lot of times in the 28 day challenge, you'll be rolling. You'll see all these results. And then after the challenge, like things slow down and that's because when you have 28 days and you've got this deadline, you're committing a lot harder. But when you've kind of just moved into this month to month. It's really easy to just sort of get relaxed and not have that sense of urgency. And so I am always a big fan of, especially if you're stuck in a rut or you're spinning your wheels. Set a date. It could be anything, right? It could be your birthday, your anniversary, a trip you're taking some event, like anything at all. You can literally just pick a date to create some urgency, to give you that sort of structure of like, okay. Got this timeline. However, you gotta be careful with timelines because. Because oftentimes what will happen is I will see somebody. Set a date. And put a goal weight attached to it. The fact of the matter is we don't have control over how fast we lose weight. Uh, in terms of what the scale's going to do in terms of what might happen in life, you might be like me and get knocked down for three whole weeks. In and out of the hospital, you might. Move your kids might get sick. I mean, there's so many things that can just throw off your timeline. And if you're putting too much emphasis on the timeline, it can feel really defeating. And I can see so many times where women have just given up because it's like, well, I'm not going to reach that timeline. So might as well just throw in the towel. So keep timelines flexible. If you're going to have it, use it. Like I said, use it with caution. I'm not saying don't have them again. I am a huge advocate for having a date that you've got in mind, but use it with caution, have some flexibility. Don't attach something that you don't have control over. Like how fast the scale moves. To a date instead. I'm all about, you know, Thinking about it in terms of like, here's kind of where I want to be, how I want to be feeling, then here's sort of a good deadline. That would be a good marker. And I'll just throw in this last little bit here. There were so many times where I would get to a, a timeline, a date or an event. And I wouldn't be where I want it to be. The scale would not, you know, be at the number that I thought it would be at. But let me tell you, I never cared. About it that much, because I knew I had worked hard and I felt so. Good. I was like, I feel so much better. And I've made this progress. Who cares if it's not the scale weight or whatever that I thought I'd be out. Like I made it here. Like, I'm good. Like I I'm solid. And so just keep in mind that those timelines there. They're good, but the progress that you're going to make in between, even if it's not. Exactly what you wanted. You will still be so freaking proud of yourself. You'll still be so confident. So happy. That you won't really care about that timeline that much. So just be careful with those. All right, starting to round this out. Okay. Number nine. If I had to start over again. I did this from the beginning. I swear to game-changer. If you hear nothing else, listen to this. If I had to start over again, I would make the physical progress. The side piece. Okay. Hear me out. Hear me out. I know so many of you. Come into your weight loss journey. And you're like, I want to lose weight. I want to see the scale go down. I want to feel better in my clothes. I want to feel confident when I take pictures, I want to get leaner. I want to lose body fat. I want to feel good. I want to be fit all the things I get it. Like I, 100% was there with you. Like I started my journey. Because I didn't feel confident in my body either. So I'm right there with you But let me tell you, speaking from experience and as a coach, Make the physical changes, the sidepiece. Put all your emphasis on your behaviors and your habits. And I am telling you if you use that as like the number. One, the physical progress will come. It it's, it is like a tale as old as time at this point, having been in this space for a decade, every expert, every coach that is so solid. I will tell you this. You've got to focus on your habits, how consistent. Distant you are with them. How well you're showing up for yourself for your goals. That is what should be the focus and the physical progress is the result of that. So many women focus on the result, the result, and that's like how they're measuring how successful they are. But they're not looking at well, how consistently am I hitting my protein? How many days of this month did I actually log my food? How many weekends did I stay on track? How many times did I show up for my workout? When I set a goal of doing it five times, like seriously. This is something I swear gave me a leg up and my journey and why I was able to lose a hundred pounds. I didn't stress super hard about those progress pictures about that weekly scale data. I stressed way harder. Over. Okay. Did I stay in my calories? Did I log my food? Did I have too many days this month where I was eating out and going over my calories, did I skip a bunch of workouts? Like. It was all about focusing on my habits, focusing on changing those lifestyle behaviors and spoiler alert. You guys. It does not matter if you do all the workouts and you eat all the food and you lose the weight, but you don't actually change your habits. Like we see this sometimes with women who come into the 28 day challenge, no matter how much we talk about it in the beginning, remember this is changing for life, not just for these 28 days, but they'll come in and they'll think like, okay, I'm going to just like, get through these 28 days, I'm gonna lose some weight. And then after the 28 days, all the things that they were doing to see success, They drop. And guess what happens? You regained the weight or you don't lose any more weight. And that is because they were looking at it as well. I just am going to. Do it to this end point, right. To this timeline, but they're not thinking no, I'm changing my life. I'm changing my habits for life. And this is why it's so important to not do. Extremes. This is why it is so important to make your habits actually realistic to fit your lifestyle so that they're sustainable so that your results are sustainable. And the second sort of piece to this is. If you're just focused on the physical progress. I'm here to tell you as a coach again, who has just done this for so long and coached so many women, the women who put all of the emphasis on the physical results and the physical progress are the ones who end up not seeing it. Truly, because here's what happens. When you don't see it, which inevitably, like I said, back at the beginning of the episode, You're going to have weeks. That's where the skills just going to be a brat. I mean, period, that's going to happen. Like it's, it's almost a guarantee. You're going to have weeks where things just aren't going to super, super well. And if your only marker for success is well, did I see progress? How easy is it to go? Well, I didn't, so I give up. Um, uh, forget all the habits, forget all the things I've been doing. I give up because I didn't see progress physical progress this week. Okay, now let's change that. Let's say that you set it around. Your workouts and your nutrition, like let's just focus. Like those are two things. We really focus on three things that balanced by Hillary. It is your nutrition and then it's your exercise or activity. And then it's your self-care. But like, let's just say that you set your week around, you know, X number of workouts and, you know, nutrition. Okay. Say that you don't see any progress this week, but you look back at your week and you're like, okay. I really stayed in my nutrition and I really stayed in my exercise goals. Okay, now you've won. Even though the progress hasn't happened this week, you've won because you followed through on those goals, you stayed in it. Now next week, guess what might happen? That scale might just drop. We see this all the time. Like one week, maybe even two weeks, it holds out and then boom, whoosh. Big old drop on the scale, big old fat laws changes up and like, right. Like it feels like on the dog, really. It was accumulating over that whole time while you were doing those habits, you should have been engaged in right. And it drops, but if you'd given up after that first week, because you were only measuring the physical progress. And so that was your marker for if you should, or shouldn't be doing these things. And you gave up. That is going to throw you off your journey completely like that. That is where you end up in such a toxic cycle and you don't change your life and you don't get the results you want. Whereas if you had focused on your habits, And the win was showing up for them even. If it's not a hundred percent, right? Some weeks you might miss a workout some weeks you might go over your calories. But if you're, you know, measure for success is that you stayed in your habits. And so you kept going, even though the scale didn't show it. And then you kept going and then boom, you're rewarded with the physical progress because you kept going, because that was your marker for success. I make the physical progress, the side piece, like right now, mentally switch it to okay. I am focused on my behavior. I am focused on what I can control, how much I work out, how much I'm meal prep, how much I'm meal plan, how well I stay in my calories. Like. How much sleep. I get, how I manage my shuts. Like I'm going to focus on that. That is how I'm going to measure if I had a successful week or not. And then the physical progress is sort of this side piece. The beauty of this is if the side piece isn't doing what you want it to be, the physical progress isn't happening, you can go back to those habits and you can look at okay, is the consistency there? Is the accuracy and honesty there. Do I need. To make an adjustment, right. Because you might, you truly might. And then you can tweak those habits, those behaviors. Tweak it. Go again. And then see what happens with that side piece physical progress. And you keep tweaking. You're going to get to your sweet spot. You're going to see results, but if all your emphasis is on that physical progress and that causes you to say, I give up, I throw in the towel. You're never going to get there. And that is as. Blunt as I can be about it. Got to change your mindset away from focusing on physical. It's the side chick. And your main relationship should be your habits. Your behaviors and changing your lifestyle because this is forever. Alright, the last thing that I want to talk about, and I'm going to segue this last point into also talking about our app, you guys. Cause that's so excited. I'm so excited. Oh my gosh. So excited. Okay. The last thing that I would. Would do, and I did this from the beginning. Which is why I started my business. Um, if I had to start over, I would find a community. Of people, women specifically, um, that were on the same journey that I was, that talked the same language that, uh, had the same goals. And I would go hard on that. Okay. This is something that I had in my journey that I've, I fully believe it would not. Not have gone the way it did without, and it's because you're going to get in a rut. You're going to have bad days. You're gonna need motivation, inspiration support from others. You know, we're, we're human. We. We like that comradery. We love community. And finding a place, a home. A group. A tribe that is doing what you're doing. It's so important. I see ladies all the time. Shoot me a DM on Instagram and they're like, I just don't have a supportive spouse. I don't really have anybody around me that you know, is into their health or, you know, eating well or exercising. And it's like, I totally understand. I'll be honest. Um, when I started my journey, I didn't either. You know, um, I didn't have anybody around me that was exercising. I will say I didn't. I did have my brother he's actually who got me into running and strength training, but mom, wasn't on this journey yet. Like I didn't have friends that were really doing all of it. So it was one of those things. It was so important for me to find my tribe. And I was very lucky that I did. I had back then it was like the Facebook groups. I don't know if that's still like a big thing, but you know, Facebook groups. And so when I kind of got to. A point in my journey where this was becoming a business for me, I was helping ladies. I was doing a lot of one-on-ones and there was something missing. I could just feel it, there was something missing. And what it was is that. It's great to have a coach and, you know, have somebody with their eyes on your stuff right. And guiding you through it and, and expert. Advice and guidance, but. There was just something missing and. And I realized really quickly, these ladies need support beyond just me. Most ladies really just do well with having other women around them to support them, empower them, uplift them. And at the core of balanced by Hilary, that is what we are all about. We are all about community because a weight loss journey is hard. Uh, it's the way to get there is actually quite simple, but it's not easy. There's so many factors, whether it be your home life, your job, your. Just live in general. That makes it tough, your own mindset, right? The experiences you've had in the past, your self-sabotage. It's hard enough as it is, but going through it alone is even harder. And so if you can have support around you, if you can have a community. To kind of pull you up on those days where you want to give up, if you can open your app and be inspired by somebody who said, I didn't feel like working out today, but I did it. I can't tell you how many times in my journey I had that happen. I'd open up the group. And I just be like, I don't feel like doing this and I would scroll through and I'd see somebody post a transformation picture or post that they overcame some obstacle and be like, she did it. I can do it. Or, you know, I would post and say, Hey, I'm struggling. And I'd get these comments from women that were like, I've been there, I'm there too. I get it. We've got this. And I'd be like, okay, I'm not alone. Um, I've got support. I can do this. This is why we created group programs and why moved away from one-on-ones. And created a community for women who are going through their weight loss journey. They've decided to ditch fad dieting, which is kinda scary. Right? Cause you've got to trust the process a little bit more. You don't have those instant. Quito drop the water weight results. Right. Of women who just speak the same language, macros are definitely different. Right? Uh, the women who want to have a healthy relationship with food. Who want to have a positive self image? Right? We're not doing this because we don't like ourselves. We are doing it because we love ourselves and we want to feel. Our best. And so being surrounded by women who are on that mission to. So important. And I just want to say that if you're somebody who doesn't have a supportive environment around you. Find your tribe. It makes. All of the difference in the world. It truly does. And so I want to invite you if you are. Looking for a community. And this goes for, if you already know macros or you don't know macros at all. I want to invite you to join us inside of our brand new. Balanced by Hilary app. We're so excited to finally be in there. We're still working out some of the little kinks and things. It's been fun. To find where we like forgot to embed a video or something, but we're pretty much in good shape. Now we've got our subscriptions rolling. We've got ladies in there and I just want to invite you to join us, to find your tribe. I think you'll love it. I think we have the best. I always say this. I think we have like the best women ever. I don't know if like, I'm sure, like, I love all, like all women are so strong and amazing and great, but like, I just think we have the. Best ones. I've just got to say. I would love for you to join us inside of our balanced by Hillary app and just a few details. So. We do have an awesome community section. There's like a general discussion board where you can post, you can share, we've got ladies sharing recipes, we've got ladies sharing their sweaty workout, selfies, sharing, inspiration, like all the things. It is a great place to ask, you know, women who are on the same journey. Like, Hey, like what do you think about this? Or, Hey, I'm struggling, you know, or, Hey, I'm cheering myself on right. Fabulous community. But inside of our balance by Hilary app, it is such a steal. You guys is what I'm so excited about. We wanted to create a place that women could. Easily access our 28 day macro challenge and one issue that we. We had in the past with live launching that program. Is you're waiting around for a start date. Right. And so there might be time in between, and there's only two of us. It's just me and mom, my biggest goal in my business outside of like my business coach and. Little things that I might be, you know, Outsourcing is to keep it just me and mom, honestly, like I would love to have some like support coaches and things in our community eventually, but like, I am very pro, like me and mom are gonna run this and. So it was so important for us to make sure that we scheduled those live launches to where we could handle it. But that means that we can't be running them all the time. Horizon. And also the problem with live launches and, and having a set, like start date in in-state for the 28 day macro challenges. What if life happens? What have you get sick? What if your kiddo gets sick? Right? Like what if you have to travel or something comes up for work and you have to miss out on the content? Well, the program's rolling. So you've either got to try and catch up or you've got that sort of added stress of like, oh no, I don't have time. Or, you know, whatever it might be. And then you're flustered because you've paid, you've joined the challenge. Now it's almost over. And you just feel like I kind of missed the boat. Right. GaN sitting around waiting for a challenge to begin. So, what we did inside of our app is we made the 28 day challenge completely accessible. You can literally start today. And you run it on your time. So it runs like a course. And when I tell you it's a comprehensive course, I've never been more proud of anything in my life. Like putting it together inside this app. I was like, wow, this is my life's work. Honestly, like we walk you step-by-step through, if you have never counted macros before this program is for you. If you've tried to count it and it's just stressed you out, like I said, talked about like you needed a. A simplified approach. This is for you. If you've counted macros and you're kind of a pro, but you want to sort of refresh and also be able to like join the community and stuff like this is for you. 28 day macro challenge. Now you get access to the full program when you join our balanced monthly membership, which is$25 a month. Cancel at any time when you join our app or download our app, you can join. And you can get access to this program as a part of your membership. A lot of people have been asking me, is it like an add on cost? No. No, this is what we wanted to make it accessible. Meaning you can start it at any time, but also affordable. Programs like this guys, we've done the market research hundreds and hundreds of dollars for courses like this. But you get it inside of our membership for less than a dollar a day. You join it's in your apple or your Google app store. So you can cancel at any time. If you decide it's not for you or it's not the right time. Literally so accessible, such an easy, yes, because our program simplifies things. We break it down. We take the overwhelm out. It unlocks each day. So you're not bombarded with like all the content and feeling kind of like stressed of like, okay, here's just a list of all this stuff I've got to go through now. It's sequentially very carefully. We pieced it to where it unlocks. So you get a few slides a day that give you. Good information, all the things you want to know about, you're going to learn about logging. You're gonna learn about calories. You're gonna learn about protein, carbs fats. Trainings like how to calorie cycle, what flex days are, how to use them strategically. So that's going over your calories and macros for like fun events. How to plan those in. So many pro tips, so many things inside of this course that unlocks each day, so that you're learning, but you're not overwhelmed by how much there is it even alerts you like, Hey Tom, to do your next slide. So if you're somebody who forgets like. Turn on those notifications. Let it tell you, Hey, time to come in and you get to run it on your own timeline. So say something does happen. And you do get thrown off. Guess what? It's going to remember the last slide you unlocked and you're going to pick right back up where you started. Once you've gone through the content. It's a whole unlocked for you forever, as long as you remember, right? So you can go back through it. You can spend as much time as you need. If you need more than 28 days, you can take it. I'm so freaking excited to be able to offer it in this way. This was a dream. For me. And we just didn't have that capability in our old app and this new app guys, we built this, like, this is truly, we have our hands in the building of this and. Even more exciting. This is just phase one. We have so many phases. Like I'm not, I'm going to tell you all the things that we have coming. This is just phase one of the app. It's only going to get better. We have a recipe section. We have a. A progress tracker, like I was saying where you can log. Your, uh, scale way, you set a goal, you logged your scale weight, which is really awesome. We, um, you can upload a progress picture with that. We have a daily check-in, the ladies are loving this. We've gotten so much feedback, a daily check-in where you go in, you answer some questions, you know, to hold yourself accountable. You check off the habits that you did, you can journal about your day. And then you can filter and see how consistent was I with checking off that I hit my protein this week, or this month, like so much accountability and awareness, so many great tools. We have an FAQ, which is a, it's pretty extensive. We're still adding to it. We're going to keep adding to it. FAQ those common questions that you have, you know, is it okay to go over my protein goal? Do I add back in exercise, calories, like all these things. FAQ, you can search keywords or you can just sort of scroll and look at things and it will take you to a resource that answers those questions that you have those common questions. Cause that's the one thing with a course, a lot of times like you get the course, but then you're like, well, I don't know about this. And I have a question, right? Our FAQ covers all of those questions and it goes really in depth on a lot of them too. So you really get good information. And like I said, you've got that community to connect with other women. Um, which is really awesome. And once a month, right now, we're trialing this, um, once a month we do something called ask the experts. Which it's actually coming up. Um, we're, I'm recording this, so it'll be next week, but once a month on it's really it'll be the first, Monday of every month. Once a month. We do ask the experts where you'll be able to submit your question. And mom, and I will answer it. We will give you some feedback. This is kinda your way of getting, like, if it's not an FAQ, if you're not able to kind of figure it out. Maybe just kind of want some like advice, some expert guidance. This is how you can get it is that you can ask us your questions and we will give you some feedback. It makes it a little personalized. Which again, I'm just like, I'm sorry, like it's such a steal, like at$25 a month. I honestly, like, I feel like that is such a steal to have the resources, the access at your fingertips to get the help that you need. I get those questions answered. Like I said, that monthly asked the experts. It's just such an awesome way to, if you're having sort of a personal struggle to get a little feedback. And again, we're trialing that right now. We're going to see if we think that's the best way to do it, but like so excited that we're going to have that next week and can't wait to see your questions, give you some coaching. Um, and guys, that's, there's more things in the app. The podcast uploads directly to the app and you can play the episodes, a bookmark, your favorite ones. You can make notes and they're timed. So like, if you need to go back and listen to something, you can create a little timer and then it'll take you right back to that spot. Like. I could go on and on. I am so freaking excited to turn the page actually. Like I kind of feel like we closed a book and opened a whole new one. Inside of balanced by Hillary. We are offering our programs and such a new way. And there's workouts in there. We've got more programs that we're going to be adding regularly. If you like the live challenge aspect, don't worry. It's not going away completely. We're going to get our feet under us with this app, and then we're going to be making a really big, fun announcement about a new. Live program that we are bringing to you guys, that's going to help you really get those results. I'm so excited. I just, I'm gonna put the link in the show notes to our website. You can check it out, learn a little bit more about it, but you guys feel free to shoot us an email. Feel free to ask your questions. We want to make sure it's a good fit for you, but truly like canceled any time. Like there's just. There's nothing to lose and so much to gain. And again, if you need community, you need support, you need some guidance. Like this is such an awesome way to do it. I'm not just saying that because it's my program. I truly believe like this is just everything in one place and I'm so, so pumped. We would love to have you join us. So if you've made it to the end of the episode, Click the link in the show notes, go to our website, check it out. Like I said, shoot me an email. If you have any questions, but take these 10 things. You guys. Think about it. If there's something that you're not doing, that you feel. Like, all right. Like that's doable for me. I need to, you know, I need to do that. I need to just start with logging my food or, yeah. I need to break up with the, you know, daily scale and start. Focusing on that weekly average scale weight, right. Take these things. Think about it, apply it right. And let's get those results going. I'm so excited. We're like right before the warm weathers come in, like it's time to go hard on those goals. This is the time to push. I'll always say it in April. This is the time to push. If you want to feel good for summer, you know, if it didn't go so well from new years till now, maybe you were doing okay, but you've dropped off the map. Let's get re motivated. Reenergized reinspired hit that reset. You don't need a Monday. You don't need a new month. Like it is a new month when I'm putting this out, but like, let's go like now's the time. And you don't need to start over. You can just start from where you're at. And let's do this. Like I'm so excited. Can't wait to help you guys reach your goals again. We'd love to have you join us inside of the new balanced by Hillary app. Hit that link below, and I will see you guys in the next episode. Bye guys.